Senators say PPP loan forgiveness application is unnecessarily burdensome

Federal Issues U.S. Senate SBA Small Business Lending CARES Act Covid-19

On June 12, a bipartisan group of senators wrote to the U.S. Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration (SBA) urging revisions to the Paycheck Protection Program’s (PPP) loan forgiveness application. Specifically, the letter requests that the application be “no longer than one page for any loan under $250,000.” The senators note that the CARES Act only requires the forgiveness application to include three items: (i) documentation supporting payroll numbers and pay rates; (ii) documentation supporting mortgage, lease, and utility payments; and (iii) certification that the information is true and correct. While the SBA has the ability to require more documentation, the senators argue that the “11-page forgiveness application” is “beyond the program’s intent” and that it is not only difficult to complete, but it may require businesses to seek costly professional tax advice. The senators acknowledge that for loans above $2 million, intense scrutiny is “an appropriate oversight of taxpayer resources,” but for loans “worth a mere fraction of that,” the lengthy application is a “needless complication to our nation’s economic recovery.”

Details on the PPP loan forgiveness process can be found here.